US economy grows at slower pace in Q1

Washington, April 28 (IANS) The US economy grew 0.7 per cent in the first quarter, sharply lower than the 2.1 per cent growth in the previous quarter, the advance estimate released by the Commerce Department said on Friday.

The growth was the weakest quarterly performance since the first quarter of 2014, Xinhua news agency reported.

The sharp slowdown in consumption growth and the downturns in private inventory investment led to the slow growth in the quarter, the Commerce Department said.

Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 per cent of the US economy, increased only 0.3 per cent in the quarter, the smallest increase since the fourth quarter of 2009.

Changes in private inventories subtracted 0.93 percentage points from the growth in the quarter, compared to a contribution of 1.01 percentage points to the growth in the previous quarter, it said.

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